sata

Finally, it looks like the Drobo storage system I've been waiting for has arrived.

I've been struggling with the right way to deal with data as I move from a desktop machine with abundant internal storage to a laptop that can't fit my burgeoning photo library. Earlier four-drive Drobo models, with FireWire and USB ports, looked better at backup than storing live files I'd be using constantly.

But Monday, Data Robotics announced the Drobo S, a five-bay, $799 storage system that adds an eSATA connection to the mix.

Drobo systems use technology called BeyondRAID that stores data across a mixture of different drives. It offers redundancy and automatically rebuilds your files when you replace an older drive or add a new one that's more capacious. Drobos don't come cheap, but they offer longevity, and right now Amazon is selling 1.5-terabyte drives for $99.

So why should the prospect of dropping $1,000 on a storage system excite me? Because of eSATA.… Read more

In September, Seagate made the first 6Gbps SATA hard drive available. The new Seagate Barracuda XT hard drive offers twice the throughput speed of existing popular 3Gbps SATA hard drives. Now you're about to get the chance to take advantage of the new drive's performance with your current PC.

HighPoint, which makes controllers for storage devices, announced Monday the availability of the first SATA 6Gbps (or SATA 3.0) host adapters, the Rocket 600 series, which are based on PCI-Express 2.0 technology.

SATA 3.0 is the next generation of the SATA storage standard. Currently most computers … Read more

Toshiba has unveiled solid-state drives based on the new mini-Sata interface standard, which lets manufacturers create very small drives for use in Netbooks and other portable or embedded devices.

The Japanese hardware maker introduced on Monday the two 32-nanometer-process SG2 SSD modules, each of which comes in two capacities. In a separate announcement the same day, the Sata-IO consortium said it is developing mini-Sata (mSata).

The new interface specification will provide a "high-performance, cost-effective storage solution for smaller devices like notebooks and Netbooks," said the Sata-IO consortium, which includes Toshiba.

One of Toshiba's SG2 modules uses an … Read more

Six months after showing off the demo, Seagate announced Monday that it is now shipping what it says is the word's first 3.5-inch 6Gbps 2TB hard drive.

The drive is based on the third generation of the Serial ATA (SATA) standard, roughly called SATA3. The majority of existing hard drives use the SATA2 standard that caps at 3Gbps. Theoretically, the new 6Gbps standard's throughput could be fast enough to transfer the entire contents of a CD (about 800MB) in just one second.

The new hard drive is called Barracuda XT, and it belongs to the company's … Read more

Two sweet deals from Sony in one week? Mercury must be in line with Neptune. First we got the refurbished PlayStation 3 for $237, and now you can pick up a Sony BDU-X10S Blu-ray drive for $49.99 shipped (plus tax in most states).

Just to clarify, this is an internal PC drive, not a standalone Blu-ray player. So it's really a deal only if you have a PC hooked up to a big monitor or an HDTV. (Sorry, slim pickings on deals today.)

Just make sure you're using a DVI or HDMI connection to avoid copy-protection issues.… Read more

First up, some important business: I'm on vacation this week! But I couldn't leave you hanging without one more sweet deal, so here's my farewell post. See you next Monday! (Unless I just can't stay away... you never know.)

Holy ridiculously cheap storage, Batman! Buy.com has a Fantom G-Force 1-terabyte external hard drive for $69.99 shipped.

The catch? Yep, you guessed it: There's a $20 mail-in rebate [PDF]. I know that's a deal-breaker for some, but even in the unlikely event you get the short end of the rebate stick, $89.99'… Read more

What's cheaper than a $98 Blu-ray player from Wal-Mart? A $57 Blu-ray drive for your PC. That's the deal from ZipZoomfly, where you can get a Lite-On iHOS104-06 Blu-ray drive for $56.99 shipped.

Granted, this isn't the ideal solution for everyone, but if you have a PC hooked up to a big monitor or an HDTV, it's aces. (Just make sure you're using a DVI or HDMI connection to avoid copy-protection issues.)

The iHOS104-06 is a SATA drive with an 8x DVD read speed and 4x Blu-ray read speed. Although the specs don't … Read more

To celebrate Earth day, Seagate announced Wednesday the availability of its new, extra-low-power desktop hard drive, the Barracuda LP (LP stands for low power).

If Western Digital's new WD RE4-GP desktop hard drive has no spinning rpm specification, Seagate's Barracuda LP has a rather unconventional spinning speed of 5,900rpm.

Generally, the spinning speed is associated with the performance of hard drives. For example, drives with 5,400rpm tend to have a lower performance than those with 7,200rpm, which is the current spinning speed of most desktop hard drives.

However, the faster the hard drive spins, the … Read more

Ladies and gentlemen, we have a new low! OnSale.com has the Fantom GreenDrive 1 terabyte external hard drive for $79.99. UPS Ground shipping will run you a very reasonable $4.99.

OK, you knew there had to be a catch, right? Actually, there's a pair: rebate No. 1 (PDF) and rebate No. 2 (PDF). They're $20 apiece.

I don't have a problem with rebates, but I know that some people hold them in the same regard as AIG bonuses. (Surely, they aren't that bad.)

As for the drive itself, it features USB 2.0 … Read more